New Year's Eve rainbow from Zaragoza!

Our beloved Blas has just arrived back home in Zaragoza where it was raining. He captured this rainbow looking out the front window after the rain stopped--what a wonderful image for this transition from 2009 to 2010!

Year-End Staycation

We are having a staycation this week because it is the only week that both of us have off from our respective schools. SOMEBODY got a shopping trip to Robot Love as a Christmas present, so we went there and touched every single thing in the store before we made our choices. Then we did the same thing next door at SooVAC. The Soo Visual Arts Center is a non-profit art gallery that also has a great store featuring unique work by local artists, including "Curster" (Erin Currie). I absolutely loved her clothing.

Later on this week, we might see some movies. We might make popcorn and watch the anime series Cowboy Bebop at home. We will definitely go to the Free First Saturday at the Walker Art Centerto look at the work of Chinese artist Zhao Liang "Heavy Sleepers".

Here's a year-end treat: that genius DJ Earworm has created his yearly mash-up, "United State of Pop 2009 (Blame It on the Pop): A Mashup of the Top 25 Hits of 2009, according to Billboard,"

Beat Freaks + Vogue Evolution = Love!

I keep writing posts and then not posting them because they dissatisfy me. I'm getting frustrated that blogging feels more like a chore than a pleasure. I briefly considered going on hiatus or even closing it down. But then I found this clip of the Beat Freaks taking voguing lessons from Vogue Evolution, and it made me very happy.

FREAK THE VOGUE Trailer from Beat Freaks on Vimeo.

"A Very Herring Christmas"

Happy happy! Fresca, Lucinda and friends made this wonderful film. We're off early this morning to beat the winter storm.

"Let's put the Saturn back in Saturnalia"

Garrison Keillor has been indulged by the Baltimore Sun in publishing a mean-spirited anti-Semitic rant (ostensibly about messing with the lyrics of "Silent Night", but really a somewhat hysterical attack on Emerson, the Unitarians and other pointy-head Eastern seaboard "elitists") that seems to me to be a sign that his recent medical issues have seriously affected his judgement. And no, it's not satire, duh, it's a reminder of why the Coen brothers most recent movie about growing up Jewish in Minnesota is still relevant.

"Unitarians listen to the Inner Voice and so they have no creed that they all stand up and recite in unison, and that's their perfect right, but it is wrong, wrong, wrong to rewrite "Silent Night." If you don't believe Jesus was God, OK, go write your own damn "Silent Night" and leave ours alone. This is spiritual piracy and cultural elitism, and we Christians have stood for it long enough. And all those lousy holiday songs by Jewish guys that trash up the malls every year, Rudolph and the chestnuts and the rest of that dreck. Did one of our guys write "Grab your loafers, come along if you wanna, and we'll blow that shofar for Rosh Hashanah"? No, we didn't.

Christmas is a Christian holiday - if you're not in the club, then buzz off. Celebrate Yule instead or dance around in druid robes for the solstice. Go light a big log, go wassailing and falalaing until you fall down, eat figgy pudding until you puke, but don't mess with the Messiah."

Ugh.

I will indeed celebrate Saturnalia, starting with my favorite clip from The Big Bang Theory (repeated last night):
"It's a Saturnalia miracle!"

And to cleanse the palate from GK's nastiness, here's a holiday song beloved by many:

This song, Fairytale of New York, was written by The Pogues in 1987, and sung by Shane McGowan and Kristy McColl (lyrics here). Here it's covered by Billy Bragg and Florence and the Machine

A small wish list.

My daughter has ordered me to make a Christmas wish list. I really don't need anything, but I do have a wish list. Given her purchase power, I can't expect her to get me a trip for two to Japan. Or to buy me these Criterion Films boxed collectors sets. But they are on my wish list! Maybe I'll have to netflix the list next year. The Janus Essential Art House: 50 films is 50 of the world's greatest movies for $650 (along with books, notes, poster, etc). That works out to an incredibly reasonable price per film, and one could watch one a week all next year.

Another boxed set they have is Akira Kurosawa 100: 25 films, to honor the 100th anniversary of his birth. $319 I have probably seen most of these, many in Japantown in San Francisco with my mom when I was in high school, but I would love to own them; I never get tired of Kurosawa's films.

I have a backlog of books in the house I have to read, so no new books or I will get them from the library. But 2 books I would like to own are cookbooks:
Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything is one I've had my eye on for a while, and now that I have a slow cooker, I'd like to try out Make It Fast, Cook It Slow A Year of Slow Cooking by Stephanie O'Dea. Yes, one can read recipes online and print them out, but I love holding cookbooks, getting them dirty, and pulling them off my shelves to get inspiration.

For real? honey, if you could find me a really nice winter fleece hat that doesn't make me forehead itch (no wool, alas!) I would be thrilled.

More Lady Gaga

In our house, we are big Lady Gaga fans. This clever and vocally splendid acapella cover of a medley of Lady Gaga songs shows why they have become such earworms: the arrangements and harmonies are incredibly sticky! Great singing by nayamarie2009!

Why I don't use Facebook, revisted

Via Bob Collins on his NewCut blog on MPR, a video on the privacy concerns about Facebook, and the possibility of identity theft. A reminder of why I shut down my Facebook account and deleted it. Although it is possible to use it safely if you are somewhat savvy and constantly vigilant for their privacy settings changes, ultimately, it's a giant data mining operation.

When you get winter, make winterade

After the first big snowfall, put on the snowsuits, break out the sliders and hit the slopes!

She's alive!

Golems, doppelgangers, doubles, replicants, cyborgs, monsters:


I just reread Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (complete text available online here) because I bought Peter Ackroyd's fascinating novel The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein.

The first film version of the Frankenstein/Monster story was a silent feature made in 3 days in 1910. I've seen the famous 1931 James Whale film, with Boris Karloff as The Monster.

I have never seen the 1994 version called "Mary Shelley's Frankestein," directed by Kenneth Branagh in which he played Victor Frankenstein, casting Robert de Niro as the creature, and Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth. But I just watched Ken Russell's famously over-the-top movie Gothic, (with Gabriel Byrne! and Natasha Richardson!!)

In the comic art world, Bernie Wrightson's illustrations are prized by fans. The drawings were collected and published by Marvel, but have been rescanned and printed in a higher-quality, full-sized version by Dark Horse.

Mexican director Guillermo del Toro has confirmed that he is planning his own version of Mary Shelley's novel, which makes sense, but it is still a few years away.

Now I'm watching Gods and Monsters, an amazing movie made of only $3 million, but absolutely gorgeous. With Ian McKellan, Lynn Redgrave, and Brendan Frasier in his best role ever. The shooting script for this Oscar-winning film about the director of the most famous film version of Frankenstein can be downloaded here.) The collector's edition DVD I got from Netflix has a special feature called "The Making of Gods and Monsters" which so makes me appreciate the actors, the director Bill Condon.The biography of Whale has been rewritten by James Curtis (and published by the U of MN press, how about that!).

On my wish list: Christopher Bram's novel The Father of Frankenstein (on which Gods and Monsters is based).

Ox Tail Improvisation

My next cook book is going to be Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.
I improvised an oxtail stew with my new slow cooker, and it is delicious! I cooked the pieces in dark beer with a handful of dried savory, some tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce. I didn't brown the pieces, although I could have, just threw it all in the pot and cooked it overnight on low. Not much liquid is needed because the oxtail gives off so much itself. In the morning, I pulled the pieces out of the pot, separated the meat from the bones (and picked out the larger pieces of fat), and added potatoes to the broth left in the crockpot. Those didn't take long to cook, and they soaked up a little bit of the juices. When it was done, I strained the broth into a bowl and chilled it. The fat congealed on the top and was easily scraped off. I ended up with about two cups of beef tallow, and a few cups of gellied broth that I froze. The only change I would make to the recipe if I did it again would be to add carrots, maybe, and more salt. I'm learning that the amounts of seasoning need to be increased while the amounts of liquids should be cut in half, at least, depending on if you want a soupy preparation or not.
I've had "rabo de toro" in Spain, mmmmm

Next time I think I might try using the spices in this recipe from "Asia Down Under", or I could try it Jamaican style, a Filipino recipe.

Here is the Iron Chef Oxtail challenge! Part 2/5. The dubbing is a hoot, but the techniques and ingredients are fascinating.

Part 3, Part 4/5, and the finale, Part 5.

Legion of Extraordinary Dancers debuts on SYTYCD

(crossposted at SYTYCD Social)
The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers (The LXD) is a group of amazing dancers who are working with director Jon M Chu (StepUp 2 and the upcoming StepUp 3-D)on an online serial show scheduled to begin in 2010. They debuted a showpiece on last night's broadcast of So You Think You Can Dance that was absolutely wonderful. You can friend them on Facebook, Here's the video, with choreography by Harry Shum (currently performing as "Mike Chang" on Glee!) Christopher Scott, and Galen Hooks.



And here is a trailer for the show:

LXD "Moments" Trailer from Jon M. Chu on Vimeo.

They are keeping a very tight lid on publicity; I"m trying to find a list of the dancers, but have only found a list on this video of the crew performing with Ellen DeGeneres at her live show in Vegas. Here's some background on the project, but I have not found a wikipedia entry, which shows how Chu is building publicity, bit by bit. I'm so psyched for the success of this venture! The premise of the series will appeal to comic book/manga fans as well as dance fans:

"The 10-week Volume One of LXD...will chronicle the formation of “the most elite dance crew in the world,” tracing the origins of the seven schools of dance that make up the famed crew. Chu blends comic-book style characters with a fictional cinematic narrative. The story begins with the modern day regrouping of a 1930’s era dance troupe birthed out of the traveling circus circuit."

An ode to a typeface

The sublime Kottke turns us on to the nerdcore version of Lady Gaga's Pokerface and...a font. "Helvetica, you've been served!"

"You'll read my
you'll read my
you can read my Neutraface
(even if it's bold italic)"

Teenage angst and lust! forbidden love! hit songs!

Bella Swann may have Edward Cullen duking it with all and sundry to protect her, but in the 1984 teenagers-in-doomed-love movie Reckless, Daryl Hannah was being fought over by Adam Baldwin and the gorgeous Aidan Quinn! Deliberately citing The Wild One and Rebel Without a Cause, the film featured a great soundtrack, and the first movie appearance of Aidan Quinn, who was charismatic enough to break through the stereotypes, and who would go on to become a star in his second movie, Desperately Seeking Susan with Madonna, a year later.

This clip features a song I absolutely adored when it came out in 1981,"Never Say Never" by Bay Area band Romeo Void. Vocalist Debora Iyall, like Exene Cervenka in X, was one of my heroines for seeming so fearless to my gawky shy teenage self. There were the early days of MTV, when we still played records.And yes, we really did dance like that, although not in prom clothes...it was because we were all mad about ska music (The Selecter! The English Beat! Madness! The Specials!)


Look closely: that very tall angry guy who tries to drag Daryl Hannah off the dance floor? is Adam Baldwin, who had already been in a couple of hit movies himself--he was the bodyguard in My Bodyguard, his first role, and---skipping way ahead--- played Jayne Cobb in Firefly!

Debora Iyall and members of the band have been gigging around this year, and she still has it!. Amanda Blank is a Philadelphia rapper who has taken a line from the Romeo Void song and remixed it as an in-your-face expression of lust

If time itself was his demeanor
There'd be no sunlight or a glimmer
Of sunlight landing on the street
Sunsuit girls must be discreet
Sunsuit girls must be discreet
Nursing their fathers locked inside
They masqueraded as his bride

I might like you better
If we slept together
But there's somethin
In your eyes that says
Maybe that's never
Never say never

The slump by the courthouse
With windburn skin
That man could give a fuck
About the grin on your face
As you walk by, randy as a goat
He's sleepin on papers
When he'd be warm in your coat

I might like you better
If we slept together
But there's somethin
In your eyes that says
Maybe that's never
Never say never

There's no easy way to lose your sight
On the street, on the stairs
Who's on your flight
Old couple walks by, as ugly as sin
But he's got her and she's got him

Never say never

Dec 2 Planned Parenthood Blogger Bee: Stop Stupak, Pass Health Care Reform!

(via bourgie, via a Twitter retweet)

(Sharing this so that interested bloggers may participate.)

Dear blogger friends,

You’re invited to take part in a Planned Parenthood Blogger Bee!

On Wednesday, Dec. 2, Planned Parenthood will be holding a National Day of Action to lobby the Senate for health care reform that ensures women’s access to reproductive health care. In order to get the word out as quickly and widely as possible, Planned Parenthood is asking bloggers to write about the National Day of Action and the negative impact that the Stupak amendment would have on health care reform if it is included in the final legislation.

Under the Stupak amendment, millions of women would lose benefits that they currently have and millions more would be prohibited from getting the kind of private sector health care coverage that most women have today. It is imperative that women and their allies make their voices heard, so that they do not become second-class citizens in a newly reformed health care system in the United States. The first step will be to make sure everyone has the tools they need to inform themselves and others about the new health care system under the House-passed bill and the Stupak amendment.

We ask that on Wednesday, Dec. 2, you use the key points below to inform your readers and spread the message that we will not accept health care reform that leaves women worse off than before. To participate, send the name and url of your blog and your Twitter name if you have one, to Constance DeCherney at constance.decherney@ppfa.org by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 1. If you sign up, your blog will be listed and linked on Planned Parenthood’s Action Center and included in a special Planned Parenthood (@PPact) Twitter List.

For more information on health care reform and the Stupak amendment, visit us at http://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/healthreform.

We need to hear from you! Help us protect women’s access to reproductive health care!

Best,

Christie Petrone
Senior Press Officer – Health Care
Planned Parenthood Federation of America

Key Points for Bloggers:

Check out (and post on your blogs) the Pass Health Care Reform, Stop Stupak video and include these key points in your post.

The Bottom Line

* Essentially the amendment violates the underlying principle of health care reform, as articulated by President Obama, that no one will lose the benefits the currently have.
* Under the Stupak amendment, millions of women would lose benefits that they currently have and millions more would be prohibited from getting the kind of private sector health care coverage that most women have today.
* Millions of women would lose private coverage for abortion services and millions more would be prohibited from buying it even with their own money.
* Women’s access to private coverage for abortion would be severely restricted by health care reform.

The New Health Insurance Exchange

* The new health insurance exchange is intended to provide a new source of affordable, quality coverage for the roughly 46 million uninsured Americans and the millions more whose current coverage is unaffordable or inadequate.
* The House bill is expected to cover 96 percent of all uninsured Americans by offering subsidies for private coverage or the choice of a public plan. Depending on their income level and the final package approved by Congress, individuals would receive subsidies on a sliding scale to purchase private insurance through the exchange.
* Not everyone in the exchange would have subsidized coverage — a significant portion of people (for instance, those currently purchasing in the individual market and those working for small businesses) who would buy insurance in the exchange would not receive any subsidies, also known as affordability credits.

The Stupak Amendment

* The Stupak amendment prohibits any coverage of abortion in the public option and prohibits anyone receiving a federal subsidy from purchasing a health insurance plan that includes abortion. It also prohibits private health insurance plans from offering through the exchange a plan that includes abortion coverage to both subsidized and unsubsidized individuals.
* The Stupak amendment purports to allow women to purchase a separate, single-service “abortion rider,” but abortion riders don’t exist.
* Women are unlikely to think ahead to choose a plan that includes abortion coverage, since they do not plan for unplanned pregnancy.
* Realistically, the actual effect of the Stupak amendment is to ban abortion coverage across the entire exchange, for women with both subsidized and unsubsidized coverage.

Who Would Be Covered in the Exchange?

* Most immediately, the exchange would offer coverage to many of the 17 million women, 18–64, who are uninsured. It would also be a source of coverage for the 5.7 million women who are now purchasing coverage in the individual market.
* In most of these cases, women will lose abortion coverage that they currently have — in the current private insurance market, the majority of health insurance plans include abortion.
* Example: Currently, a self-employed graphic designer or writer, buying coverage from Kaiser Permanente in the individual market, likely has abortion coverage. Under the health reform plan amended by Stupak, she would purchase that same plan from Kaiser Permanente in the exchange, but it would not include abortion coverage because it would be barred. This ban would be in effect even if she were paying the full premium. Similarly, a woman working for a small graphic design firm, who currently has abortion coverage through her company’s plan, would lose it under reform if the company decides to seek more affordable coverage in the exchange.
* Roughly 60 million women, 18–64, get their coverage through their employer or through their spouse’s employer. For some of these women, nothing will change immediately. But if current trends continue in the erosion of employer-sponsored health care, more and more women will be getting their health care through the exchange where abortion coverage is prohibited.

Sunday morning Lady Gaga earworm

Major earworm alert!
When I first saw Lady Gaga perform on SYTYCD, I thought she was creative, albeit a little sharp through the first half, a little awkward with the props, a little "who expected to see her out in daylight?" very underground club. But she sang live, unlike many of the musical guests on STYCYD and I liked her creativity.

Now she has perfected her live performances to the point where she is in complete control of her persona, the sets, lighting, costumes, dancing, and the catchy disco/dance-pop sound she's going for.

After seeing her perform "Bad Romance" and "Speechless" (piano's on fire! yaahhh!) "Ra Ra oo la la, ga ga oo la la!" has been STUCK IN MY HEAD all week long, during class, over Thanksgiving, and this morning. As she starts out on her North American tour for "Fame Monsters" with Mark Kanemura as one of her dancers (yay, Mark!), I need to hand off this earworm to someone else, so looky here and listen up!


Every time she has performed the song on TV in the last few weeks, the costumes and sets are a little different: on Gossip Girl, on the Ellen show, on Leno (clip taken down).

Of course, the Gaga parodies are popping up like mushrooms! We have our Saturday night lip-syncing in homemade costumes in your living room version (awesome!), the rewrite as Rad Bromance version. And Barely Political adds Lord Gaga to the mix:


Earlier songs given the remake treatment for laughs include the clever Pokeman parody "Pokéface" of "Poker Face"; "Just Dance" is transformed into "No Pants" in homage to Lady Gaga's costume preferences, and we go to the level of meta-parody with the fan-stalker song "Paparazzi" turned into a Lady Gaga-inspired hymn to Michael Buckley, YouTube star of "What the Buck?"

She does not have the musical or emotional range of my beloved Annie Lennox, who also played with disco-synth and gender-bending in her performance and videos for many years, but Lady Gaga has a healthy sense of humor, and is so much more interesting to watch than most of the other big pop stars right now, as she proved on the AMAs where she was far more interesting than J-Lo, Shakira, Alicia Keys, Rihanna, and even Adam Lambert, who, sadly, did not entertain me.

Here is the awesome DJ Earworm's mashup tribute to Annie Lennox, made with her collaboration:

'And I Thank You"

Sam and Dave sing "And I Thank You" (1969), a great gospel-influenced soul song from my childhood.

Some more Thank you songs:
Led Zeppelin,"Thank You" from Led Zeppelin II.

Sly and the Family Stone "Thank You Falletin Me Be Mice Elf" and an amazing live version here.

More here.

Request: Do you have a good crock pot recipe to share?

I just got my very first crockpot! I come from a non-crockpot family, and have never used one before, yet I am surrounded by Midwestern crockpot fanatics. The other day I got one at Target, and I am in love! Why did it take me so long to try this out? After all, I love my rice cooker, my toaster oven, and my Coleman grill. Maybe it's because I have such strong memories of slow cooking in a Dutch oven or stockpot from home and in my own experience that it didn't seem right to do it another way.

The two dishes I have prepared so far are:
black beans: soaked the dry beans overnight, then cooked them with carrots, onion, garlic, herbs, ham hock, water.
garbanzos: Ditto.

Notice a trend here? both times, the results were delicious, but I wanted to try something different, and I am all out of ham hocks, so right now I am cooking a pork roast I rubbed with garlic, herbs, salt and pepper, to which I added some tomato paste, a little water, carrots, half a bottle of dark beer and some tangy Asian condiment I had lying around in the fridge. It smells delicious and looks good, but I was wondering if you, oh gentle readers, would be so kind as to share a crock pot idea or favorite in the comments? Please?

Yes, I know there are a gazillion web sites out there with crock pot recipes, including this intriguing blog by Stephanie O'Dea with a 365-day challenge to use the crockpot every day (and then write the book Make It Fast, Cook it Slow) but I don't want just ANY recipes, I want those that have pleased you!

3 years old!

Fresca posted a collage of the first lines of her blog posts, and invites us to do the same. A variation on the cadavre exquis
I am surprised that I have almost reached a thousand posts! And I did not realize that I have been bloggin since August 2006. It doesn’t seem that long.
(Too lazy to repost with the links in the original posts)

8/1/06 Watch out, or I'll use the eye-beams!

9/1/06 MMMM. Chocolate.

10/1/06 Some are so disappointed and angry about politics today that they confuse the media images of poltics with what politics is really about: it is about power, and about finding ways to make alliances so that your goals and interests are accomplished by those in power.

11/1/06 There is a lot I want to write about Oaxaca, but work is relentless this week.

12/1/06 Rob Bresny (Free Will Astrology) offers these words to Scorpios this week:
"Earth Island Journal says scientists have discovered natural ways to clean up old munitions sites.

1/1/07 On New Year's Eve, we ate our twelve grapes in time with the bongs of the clock.

2/1/07 Woo-hoo!

3/1/07 Hey, our second blizzard in a week, and this one is even bigger than the one on the weekend.

4/1/07
Here's a picture from a stroll by the Mississippi last weekend.

5/1/07 I'm going to perform in a talent show on Thursday.

6/1/07 Shriek.

7/1/07 The little stretch of the Mississippi River that runs through downtown Minneapolis has such a fascinating history.

8/1/07 This one is for my favorite pug-lover, from her momo.

9/1/07 On the sidewalk by Dolores Park.

10/1/07 Check out the cool photos of family and friends over at our neighbors' blog!

11/2/07 I had the pleasure of attending a talk by journalist Jeremy Iggers yesterday.

12/1/07 I've been on a kick with trying to remember those "sea change" moments of the pre-digital era.

1/1/08 I am not so good at recognizing the finer details of regional accents, but I find it fascinating.

2/2/08
I browse fimoculous* because Rex Sorgat collects all the year's end lists, and let's me know what latest pop culture trends are a-happenin'.

3/1/08 I took these photos last year in the Tubo, the oldest part of Zaragoza.

4/1/08 Another season of Dancing With the Stars, my guilty pleasure.

5/1/08 I feel like the human jukebox; a word, a phrase, a line can trigger the memory of a song, and it is as if someone hit "play", and the music is there.

6/1/08 A very lucky young lady is on an 8th grade field trip with about 40-50 of her classmates, (and their intrepid principal and teacher chaperones) to the Black Hills of South Dakota.

7/1/08 A while back I poked around on the topic of "the phonological loop" and earworms, those songs you get stuck in your head.

8/1/08 This summer, the show time open thread over at Blogging So You Think You Can Dance (or BSYTYCD) was a place where I felt comfortable joking, expressing my feelings, sharing my pleasure (or displeasure) about the show and my crazy fixation on it, since many of my friends and family just aren't that into it.

9/1/08 I'm very grateful to Krista at Thinkery for collecting links to stories on today's events in Saint Paul around the truncated RNC.
10/1/08 Takin' it Back With Barack, Jack! (for Swing voters!)

11/1/08 Pour mes amis francophones: Un des Justiciers Masqués, un duo comique québécois, a réussi a parler avec Sarah Palin pendant presque six minutes avant de lui dire qu'il n'était pas vraiment Nicolas Sarkozy,"Sarah Palin se fait avoir!"
and
Following the trail of serendipity leads to amazing things!
and
We joined our friends with whom we've spent Halloween ever since our kids were very little.

12/1/8 Thanks to the power of Twitter, (conjunction!) I learned about a rare astronomy event, the "Celestial Frownie Face" explained here at National Geographic: "Planets, Crescent Moon to "Frown" on Skywatchers Dec. 1"

1/1/09 We were both so sad to leave San Francisco and ten wonderful days!

2/1/09 There is so much love and respect for these two great competitors [Nadal and Federer] who are both gentleman and generous souls.

3/1/09 Rachel Maddow interviews Left Behind authors Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye, about their enormously successful books, socialism, the rapture, and how best-selling novels (tens of millions sold!) influence the worldview of millions of Americans.

4/1/09 I rousted myself out of bed early this morning, washed my hair and skipped the all-important coffee ritual (also known as skritch-the-kitty-while-the water-boils time), trying to make it by 8:30 to a talk I was eager to see.

5/1/09 Yesterday was the birthday of a very dear friend, Maria.

6/2/09
Governor Pawlenty, "Governor of Brigadoon"--a portrait by Michael Tortorello, posted on The Uptake, courtesy of Noah Kunin.

7/1/09 I am absolutely fascinated by this video: it's a sampler of rap in 30 languages from all around the world.

8/1/09 How are those beer summits going?

9/1/09 Today I went to the ATM, then went to the cafe to work on class prep.

10/1/09 The Wikepedia entry on pain says,"This article is about physical pain. For pain in a broader sense, see Suffering."

11/01/09
Christopher Walken recites Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" as only he can.

What's it all about, Foxtrot?

(crossposted at SYTYCD Social)
In week 1's competition, the charismatic Russell was rather unjustly placed in the bottom 3 and forced to "dance for his life" on the show after performing a foxtrot with choreographer/pro dancer Melanie LePatin due to Noelle's injury. I thought he did a good job and that another dancer should have been sent to the B3, BUT in exchange, we did get to see Russell perform his fantastic solo. So for Top 14, he and Noelle were asked to do the foxtrot together that they couldn't do because of her injury. I thought they did quite a good job for non-ballroom dancers.



But what are the judges looking for in a foxtrot? Why is it, as Adam said, the second most dreaded dance after quickstep?

Here's what a foxtrot looked like in the '20s with some vintage footage.

Ramp up the energy and break out of the closed hold, and you'll get the later popular dances like the Charleston, the Balboa, and all the variants of swing dancing, and a very fast foxtrot became the quickstep!). The foxtrot was a hit popular dance that burst on the scene at the beginning of the 20th century, (probably when vaudeville met higher class showdance by pros like Vernon and Irene Castle) People danced the foxtrot to American popular music-ragtime, and later swing. They played the songs on the cutting edge technology of the "talking machines" --Gramaphones or Victrolas.

Dance studios such as the Arthur Murray or Fred Astaire franchises codifed the steps to teach these popular dances to the public. With the emergence of competitive dance ballroom dance, the social dances were morphed into versions that aren't casual and spontaneous, but emphasize skill, technique, recognizable steps and patterns, and are aimed at an audience rather than at the couple's pleasure. You can still learn to dance the foxtrot as a social dance at dance studios, and if you are bitten by the bug, you can go on to learn the competitive styles, which require years of practice to dance well.

The novice starts off with these basic steps done to the "slow slow quick quick" pattern that introduces a gentle jazzy syncopation into music with 4/4 time. (Click to see quick basic lesson in basic steps at the beginning/social"Bronze level"). It's a great social dance because it's adaptable to any mid-tempo 4/4 music--country, big band, pop-- and you can talk to your partner while moving around the floor because you don't have to get out of breath!

There are two main types of competitive ballroom dance (aka International Dancesport): American and International. What we see on DWTS or SYTYCD is choreography derived from one or both of these competition styles of foxtrot, but the shows do not hold the choreographers or the dancers to the competition rules. To hide the lack of technical expertise on the part of the newbies, ballroom choreographers will throw in all kinds of flashy moves and tricks, exciting lifts, spins, and elements that would not normally allowed in the "strictly ballroom" world. Where the lack of technique shows is in the basics. You can't fake it if you don't know how to do it right. What makes a foxtrot box step different from a rumba box step or a waltz box step? The character of the dance is just as important as the steps. I thought Russell gave a sense of the character of the foxtrot in his performance even if some of his technical elements were rough.

If social foxtrot is kind of like walking around to music, doing DanceSport style foxtrot means you must at once take long and powerful, driving steps and glide across the floor. Your feet are barely raised off off the floor (no hopping!) and your topline--your torso, chest, shoulders, arms, neck, head, must look effortlessly relaxed. In competition you are moving fast, but you can't crash into the other dancers.

Here's a nice example of a show dance foxtrot in which a dance teacher and amateur perform a choreographed routine at a studio where I've danced: he's probably 18 now, but I danced with him when he was 15 and still taking lessons. Such a wonderful dance partner! Here you can see how the foxtrot can be jazzy, sexy, fun, without having a bunch of showy lifts; we can just enjoy the character of the dance itself.


When the pros compete at the championship level, they can display their flexibility, athleticism, precision, and technique (while wearing the flashy stuff they need to get the judges attention on the crowded dance floor). Here's an American Smooth version:


The International Standard foxtrot or "slowfox" is always danced in closed hold in competition and has a somewhat different timing (hellishly difficult to do well). The commentary tells you what the judges are looking for as they evaluate the couples. To the untrained eye, the differences are invisible, but as with any sport or dance, the trained observer can tell the difference between good and great.

If you watch Russell and Noelle's foxtrot from last night, I hope you'll notice that they were doing a very good job of trying to balance the control you need to look effortless when dancing so slowly (all about control, posture and technique, folks) with the flowing, easy-breezy character of the dance. No, they don't look like the pros, but for two non-ballroom dancers? Wow. Great job. But will it save them from the B3? We'll find out tonight.

With liberty and justice FOR ALL

Oh, this kid is amazing. In fact, he is a genius. And his dad is so proud of him. I love how the dad explains how he talks to his kid and doesn't condescend to him. And the CNN anchor asked Will a hard question and he answered it well.
Will, thank you for taking a stand and for being so cool.


Here's an article from The Huffington Post (picking up on the story from Queerty)
If you are on Facebook (I am not) and want to join the Will-Phillips-you-are-awesome group, you can do that here!

National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week--one month late!

I found this meme over at the Chronic Babe forum, and even though I'm a month late, I wanted to do my own version.

30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know

1. The illness I live with is: fibromyalgia
2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: 1992 (age 33)
3. But I had symptoms since: 1976 (age 17).
4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: accepting that it won't go away.
5. Most people assume: I'm healthy.
6. The hardest part about mornings are: all-over aches, stiffness, pain in joints and trigger points, brain fog. It takes about an hour of excercises and stretches in bed to be able to get up and get moving.
7. My favorite medical TV show is: House.
8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: my laptop.
9. The hardest part about nights are: waking up at 4AM every day. I average about 5 hours of sleep, with medication. Sleep disturbance is a huge part of this syndrome. Yes, I've had a sleep study done.
10. Each day I take 4 pills & vitamins. (No comments, please)
11. Regarding alternative treatments I: wish I could afford to have shiatsu more often. It provide the most immediate relief.
12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: I refuse these "would you rather" questions!
13. Regarding working and career: I could be successful with a chronic illness, I could be a good mother with a chronic illness, but I have found that I cannot do it all, so career comes last.
14. People would be surprised to know: I'm in pain every day.
15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: in spite of my success in managing my symptoms, sometimes I will just hurt all over.
16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: dance.
17. The commercials about my illness: at least mention the name in public.
18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: I haven't stopped doing anything, but I have had to accept my limits.
19. It was really hard to have to give up: the idea of being a hot shot at my job.
20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: ballroom dance.
21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: no trade-offs. I am what I am.
22. My illness has taught me: to have compassion for myself.
23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: "you look tired!" Do I tell you you look like crap?
24. But I love it when people: acknowledge that I might need help without me having to ask for it.
25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: "all will be well."
26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: "you CAN feel better."
27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: how many people do so without letting on.
28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: drive my daughter to school when I broke my foot.
29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: well, I found out about it too late, but I want to connect with folks.
30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: OK!

Better late than never: Find out more about National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week and the 5-day free virtual conference with 20 speakers Sept 14-18, 2009 at www.invisibleillness.com

Visual humor

Venn diagram humor.
An explanation of Venn diagrams, Euler diagrams and some funny stuff at Mental Floss.
Here is some more humor with diagrams: Jessica Hagy's brilliant blog Indexed

"Nothin' but the dog in meeeee"

Why must I feel like that?
Why must I chase the cat?
Nothin' but the dog in meee....
(Bow wow wow yippie yo yippie yea)

The company that now owns the rights to this George Clinton/P'Funk song Atomic Dog has successfully won its lawsuit affirming copyright protection for

"Clinton’s “Atomic Dog” based on the use of the phrase “Bow wow wow, yippie yo, yippie yea” (the “Bow Wow refrain”), as well as use repetition of the word “dog” in a low tone of voice at regular intervals and the sound of rhythmic panting in “D.O.G. in Me.”

Here's the song as a track for a Pokemon video.


P.S. The announcement that there is "water on the moon" made me remember this Gil Scott Heron song "Whitey on the moon"

My favorite performances on SYTYCD so far

week 1: Dave Scott hip hop choreo performed by Jonathan "Legacy" Perez and Kathryn McCormick:



week 2: A Stacey Tookey contemporary routine:



week 3: And a Broadway routine by Andy Blankenbuehler (choreographer of In the Heights)

videos generously shared by rickey.org
Second favorite dancer is Jakob Karr. He'll get his own post.

One reason why I like my job

When I work with students on their Senior Projects for their last class in our department's major, my role is primarily that of guide and facilitator for the students' efforts. Yes, there are many things I teach them about doing research, writing, editing an academic paper in Spanish, both in groups and in one-on-one session. Sometimes I even get to work with students whose interests coincide with my areas of expertise. But quite often I am helping connect them with other experts, and I learn a great deal from their projects. In most cases, students choose topics that fit with their double majors, their career plans, their experience studying abroad, and their personal relationships (sometimes via marriage). Many of the topics are ones that come up almost every semester, so I've now learned quite a bit about them!

Topics this semester include:

• Myths and facts about Mexican immigration to Minnesota, using the case of Lake Street as an immigrant neighborhood, historically and today;
  
• Américo Paredes and the relationship between his fiction, poetry and research as a founding figure of Chicano studies;
  
• the exhumation of mass graves in Spain today, comparing the case of García Lorca to that of someone not famous, but whose burial on the church threshold was a symbol of repression in the village;
• Sarmiento's novel Facundo, its ideological contradictions, and their relationship to present-day Argentine social tensions;
  
• The situation of Spanish-speaking people seeking health care in the Twin Cities: insurance access, language, and cultural difference as issues in inequality for basic medical care, and another study centered on physical therapy:inventory of resources, identification of problems, possible solutions;
  
• current discourses on discrimination against Nicaraguan migrants in Costa Rica, comparing academic sources and popular discourse in blogs, press, and other online sites;
• the use of "language brokering" or informal translation by children in K-8 classroom at a school in Minneapolis: what research has to say and what the teachers see;
• examining how relationship between traditional ideas about motherhood and polticial activism for Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina through the films "The Official Story" and "Cautiva";
• Issues of literacy in Spanish for adult learners of English;
• how the maquiladora system on the U.S. Mexican border affects the women who work there, and the documentary film Maquilapolis's representation of that situation;
• What we are able to know about Aztec society before the arrival of the Spanish expeditions, and how we have to evaluate various sources in light of colonialism;
• what we should know about the different paths of Cuba and Puerto Rico after the Spanish-American War 1898 as roots of present-day situations;
• the uses of the iconic image of the Virgin of Guadalupe by Mexicans and others in the U.S., in art and popular culture, and how it works to signify different kinds of relationships in different contexts.
• Portuguese-language poetry in Angola, and the use of the trope of mother Africa in the emergence of discourses about identity during and after Independence struggles.
  

Fantasy SYTYCD S6 entry

My entry for Fantasy SYTYCD S6, in the order I think they will finish (or that I want them to finish, not necessarily the same!). Last year, I actually did pretty well in the predictions, which surprised me.

Women
1. Kathryn
2. Ellenore
3. Mollee
4. Karen
5. Ashleigh
6. Pauline
7. Noelle
8. Channing


Men
1. Legacy
2. Jakob
3. Russell
4. Nathan
5. Ryan
6. Kevin
7. Peter
8. Victor

Top 4
1.Legacy
2.Ellenore
3.Jakob
4.Kathryn

Walken, toujours actuel

Christopher Walken recites Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" as only he can.

Today, our ghosts are closer

Yesterday I attended a workshop with colleagues and students about the exhumations of mass graves in Spain that are going on now, uncovering the bones of those killed during the Civil War and also in the years after by the Franco regime, or the "nationalists." I learned from the reading we did for this workshop that the fascists had already performed their exhumations and reburials; this is not the first time that bodies have been dug up from mass graves, but previously it had only been those of nationalists killed by republicans during the war. Now, it is the victims of state-sanctioned violence who are being brought to collective sight and whose stories are being told in public after being kept secret or only whispered for decades. This is a national scenario of story-telling and performance of collective memory.

The collaborative is sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Studes at the U of MN, as one of the projects around the University Symposium topic "Bodies and Knowing." The group will meet monthly to talk about readings leading up to a conference April 23-4 of 2010.

Here is the description of the project (click the title link to get to the web page where the reading is linked if you want to download it):

Exhuming Bodies, Producing Knowledge: Collective Memory, Justice and Restitution in Contemporary Spain

"This Colloquium Series and International Conference will explore the role that the recent exhumations of mass graves from the Spanish Civil War and subsequent dictatorship have had in the emergence of the movement for the “recovery of historical memory” in Spain. At the beginning of the 21st century, over 30,000 bodies were still interred in mass graves throughout the country. Subsequently, the emergence of civic associations, created by ordinary citizens to undertake exhumations of these graves, has had an enormous impact on Spanish society. In part, the media impact of the exhumations has led to pressure to pass the “Law of Historical Memory” by the Spanish Congress in October 2007, a significant, if insufficient, step towards confronting the legacy of the war and dictatorship in contemporary Spanish society. We will analyze the multiple and complex relations between bodies and knowledge that arise in such exhumations and discuss their political, social, cultural and legal significance, in Spain and in other post-authoritarian or post-conflict settings."

The article we read, but didn't really have time to discuss at length, was "Cries and Whispers: Exhuming and Narrating Defeat in Spain Today" by Francisco Ferrándiz. First, though, we talked to each other about the history and context of these events because many of those gathered are scholars of other national contexts. Some were people born elsewhere who have been living here for many years, but have personal connections to traumatic collective histories: in Chile, Germany, the former Yugoslavia.

Ferrándiz is also the author of "Digital Memory: The Visual Recording of Mass Grave Exhumations in Contemporary Spain" Francisco Ferrándiz, Alejandro Baer. He collaborates with a big archival and testimonial project hosted at the University of California in San Diego that hosts an archive of interviews through the "Spanish Civil War Project:"

"With the assistance of these human rights organizations, since the summer of 2007 several teams of graduate students have been recording audiovisual testimonies of militants, witnesses, and victims of the Spanish Civil War and the Francoist repression."

The UCSD site exists in English and Spanish, so it's a good place to go for background. The Spanish transition to democracy after Franco's death was relatively peaceful, but one of the costs was a collective silence about what the legacy of the dictatorship. It's important to remember the difficult and painful process of creating the pacts, legal and social, that have made possible the emergence of a democratic civil society in the last thirty years, however critical of that process one might be.

After much negotiation, a law was approved a few years ago that makes possible a series of actions that allow engagement with the past: reparations or pensions for Republican soldiers, removal of at least some public monuments to fascism, and the exhumations of graves. The official site for the "Ley de la memoria histórica" explains the parts of the law. Non-governmental groups, such as the Asociación para la recuperación de la memoria histórica" have played a major role in bringing about these actions.

One of the questions that was asked at our meeting by a colleague from Spain: "what does it mean to the children of those who lived through the Civil War to confront this past and ask themselves if their parents were involved in the repression, if they were members of the Falange?" The exhumations are focusing attention now on the families of victims, but no family in Spain is untouched by these stories. Stories and speculation surround the fate of one of the most famous of these victims, whose body does not lie alone but with others murdered with him: this week begins the exhumation of the possible grave site of that of poet Federico García Lorca, and , in a story has even made The New Yorker. Author Jon Lee Anderson writes,

"In a recent story I wrote about the drama, the late poet’s niece, Laura Garcia Lorca (who is also the director of the Federico Garcia Lorca Foundation, which exercises control over the poet’s literary estate), told me that she and her relatives didn’t want Lorca’s body moved because they feared his exhumation would become an unseemly spectacle, “a circus.” Laura shuddered as she conjured up the image of Lorca’s bones being exhibited on YouTube."

It's not just the dead whose memories were stolen; it was also the living. You MUST read this post by entrenomadas about "los niños robados durante el franquismo" [children stolen during Franco's regime].

"Dónde... está... la biblioteca?"

What comedy shows make you laugh out loud? The Simpsons? Glee? Big Bang Theory?

My new favorite comedy show is Community. Maybe it's because I work on a university campus, or because I teach Spanish, but I think it's also the quality of the writing and acting. The ensemble cast is made up a really talented comedians.

Here's a bit about studying Spanish:


Here is a fab remix by DJ StevecPorter of some bits from the show.

Tonight's drinking game? take a shot every time you hear "best group ever"

(cross-posted at SYTYCD Social)
Hi, folks! I am doing my SYTYCD homework for tonight's "get to know your top 20" episode. I'm very glad the producers decided to give us this special show so we don't start seeing the dancers get eliminated until we have clapped eyes on all of them and seen them dance at least once! I'm not even bothered by the idea that the judges will do the first eliminations, because (repeat after me) this is a scripted reality show in which we are being told stories and led to believe things that are not necessarily true! I'm willing to kick back and gossip for a few weeks before I start voting.

So, I have dutifully watched all the audition episodes, even though I missed the accelerated rhythm of the summer-style audition frenzy. One benefit, to my mind, in starting the show this late in the fall season is that I got to enjoy America's Best Dance Crew and SYTYCD Canada before the S6's actual competition gets underway: fewer distractions.

Let's hear it for the show where dancers do their own choreography: I love how ABDC showcases the crews' responses to challenges. We Are Heroes and Vogue Evolution were my favorite crews. This season, DWTS is not even in the picture for me as a dance show, no matter how great my love of ballroom dancing is, because I feel about Donny Osmond just about the way I feel about Toom DeLay: both of them trigger the gag reflex. Cannot. Watch.

So, here's how I have prepared for tonight:

• Watched all the audition episodes and read all the recaps hither and yon? check!
  

• Watched the interviews with the Top 20? check! who do you think has the most annoying verbal tics? who is unexpectedly intelligent or charming? what is that "star quality" that the judges are casting for which means that some more proficient dancers didn't make the cut?
  

• Compared STYCYD Canada to U.S. version? check! Tara Jean was not my first choice, but any of the top four dancers was worthy of winning in my eyes, and I really enjoyed seeing different choreographers. Cat Deeley is still the hostess with the mostest for me!

• Mourned the departure of Mia Michaels from the show? check. Count me as one of the people who thinks this a huge loss, although not fatal. the show will go on, but I will really really miss Mia's contributions as a judge, a choreographer, and as an inspiration to the dancers themselves.
  

• updated my Twitter feed to make sure I get every gossipy tidbit from past and present contestants, judges, and choreographers, fans and bloggers? check! I'll be watching the live-blogging, tweeting, and the show at the same time.

How a flu virus reproduces (NPR story)

Using animation tools from Zirus. My poor baby has the flu, so miserable!

Al Franken makes a point about health care coverage

I'm so proud Sen. Al Franken is representing me! (via Post-Bourgie)

myers

The first time I went to a bodyworker for something other than Swedish-style massage was when I was writing my dissertation. I had been experiencing the symptoms of fibromyalgia for ten years, but in my visits to a variety of doctors I had been treated with bafflement, indifference, sexual harrasment, and a few frank admissions that they could find nothing wrong with me. I gave up on the doctors. Although something in me knew that my condition was not just a psychological disorder was causing the physical pain, the stress of doing a PhD is a highly competitive and emotionally unsuportive environment, the toll of family woes, my "type A" personality, all were certainly aggravating factors. At a certain point, I didn't care what the cause was, I was just hoping for some relief. I don't even remember how I found her, but I started going to see a woman named Dorothea who lived in north Berkeley, close to the border with Albany. It took about 45 minutes to walk to her house--a time in which I could simply move and breathe and pay attention to the flowers--and when I got there, I was treated with gentleness, respect and kindness. That, in and of itself, was a balm. But she also had hands that knew how to find the sore points, and how to use pressure and stretching to bring some relief from the pain. She gave me suggestions for gentle exercises I could do myself to try to bring my body back to a sense of well-being, bit by bit. During weekly sessions with her, my writing imagination opened up and I began to work on my thesis with more joy.

I had a powerful experience during one of our sessions. I was lying on my back and she was working on one of my arms, holding it up but trying to get me to let it hang without helping her hold it up. "Just let go," she said. It was a surprise for me to even realize how hard it was for me to just let my arm hang in her supporting hand. As she worked, I felt what seemed to be a surge of electrical current flow through my body, as if I were a tuning fork, coming to vibrate in my chest and across my face. I exploded into sobs, as something inside released, physically and emotionally, or both. I was frightened at this new experience but also exhiliarated.

Dorothea didn't label this flow "chi" or try to explain what had happened; she just made room for it, and treated it as a natural and expected result of what we were doing. For me, it was wild, somewhat scary, but powerful. Whatever it was, it was a revelation that my body was carrying lots of feelings locked up in muscle memory, and that it might be possible to release them and let them flow.

Many years later, when I started going to the student clinic of a shiatsu school and learned more about the ideas behind Traditional Chinese Medicine and its influence on Japanese body practices, I had another framework for understanding this kind of experience. I had to stop getting shiatsu for several years because of the cost (it's not reimbursed by my health plan), but I just started again this weekend, with a session with a student. This time, I was ready for the releases, the pop of muscles letting go of their clampdown on my spine, and the flow of energy into unexpected channels.

This summer, I cleaned my entire house from top to bottom. I purged my closets, gave away clothes and shoes I didn't wear, books, objects that were stashed in drawers and forgotten. I'm recycling, upcycling, rethinking my relationship to the objects in my life. I'm seeing a therapist again and looking into consulting a work coach, or at least becoming more mindful in my approach to work. I'm ready to do the work in my body and spirit to open up those places where old feelings are still locked up, contributing to the pain and drain of a worn-out adrenal system that has left me exhausted and hurting for way too long. It may be true that there is a genetic predisposition for fibromyalgia (I'm not the only one in my family who has it); it is beginning to look as if a retrovirus may also be a trigger; the body's own feedback systems keep the whole cycle moving on its own: but I can't stop working if I want to live with less pain and more ease.

Mason Jennings, "The Field"

Local musician Mason Jennings has been on the verge of super-stardom for years, but maybe it's just as well that he's been more of a cult favorite because it has let him live a normal life and make great music for appreciative fans. His latest album, "Blood of Man" has been getting heavy play on The Current, our local public radio music station, and we happened to hear it a few days ago on the drive to school. I was familiar with the music, but this time I really listened to the lyrics. By the time we got to school, I was sobbing. I couldn't help but remember the time last year when one of my students told me her only child had been killed in Iraq. Eight years of horror and wasted lives.
"I don't want no victory, I just want you back."

Sounds like a good idea to me!

As I get closer to #52, I am looking at a card some dear friends gave me on my last birthday:

Life should NOT be
a journey to the grave
with the intention of arriving safely in a
pretty and well-preserved body,
but rather to skid in sideways,
chocolate in one hand,
wine in the other,
thoroughly used up,
totally worn out and loudly proclaiming...
"Woo Hoo! What a ride"

It has been one of those days when I wish I were Jon Stewart

Today I had one of those days in which I had to be assertive without being aggressive, stand up for rigor in class and principles in the workplace, but not be whiney, nagging or self-pitying. I find this an extreme challenge and now I'm exhausted. So, here's Jon Stewart, giving free expression to his exasperation with the state of the news today. I feel better already.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
CNN Leaves It There
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

National Coming Out Day!

To all my family and friends who have come out to me and the world, you make the world a better place for all of us: thank you!
(via BitchPhd)

New report and upcoming panel on "THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF IMMIGRANTS IN MINNESOTA"

New Report by U of MN professor Katherine Fennelly and Humphrey Institute graduate student researcher Anne Huart.

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF IMMIGRANTS IN MINNESOTA

To download a copy of the report please visit this link:


"We have all heard public and private debates regarding the costs and
contributions of immigrants in Minnesota and in the United States, but
too few of these conversations have been informed by facts. To rectify
this, the Minnesota Business Immigrant Coalition asked U of MN faculty Katherine
Fennelly and Anne Huart to review and synthesize the best, unbiased
research on this contentious issue. The result is in the enclosed
report. Please feel free to share it with others. One of the links is
to the full color report; the second is to a printable version with
lesscolor. If you would like to order full-color print copies at $15 each,
please contact Ms. Mary Lou Middleton at garza001@umn.edu."

PANEL ON THE ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF IMMIGRANTS IN MINNESOTA

11/12/09
4:00pm-6:00pm
Cowles Auditorium, Humphrey Institute, U of M

4:00 Welcome
Brian Atwood, Dean, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs

4:10 Introduction
Bill Blazar, Senior VP, Business Development and Public Affairs
MN Chamber of Commerce

4:20 The Need for Credible Research on Immigrants:
Rodolfo Gutierrez, Executive Director HACER

4:30 The Ageing of Minnesotans
Tom Gillaspy, MN State Demographer

4:45 The Economic Impacts of Immigrants in MN
Katherine Fennelly , Professor, Humphrey Institute

5:00 Do Mexican Workers Compete With or Complement US Workers? :
Raymond Robertson, Macalester College

5:15 Closing Comments
Ana Luisa Fajer Flores, Consul of Mexico in Minnesota

5:25 Q&A

SYTYCD S6 is going to be hot!

10-Dance World Champion Iveta Lukosiute

Krumper Russell Ferguson

They two of them dancing together in the Vegas round:

Celeriac is in season

One of the treasures last week in my CSA box from Featherstone Farms was celeriac (also called celery root, or céléri rave in French). It's a round root vegetable, about the size of a softball, maybe a little bigger.
The surface is brown, warty and tough, rugged with rooty knobs. For some reason, it inspires people to think of trolls! The Dutch use it in their hearty soup stammpot, while the French make céléri rémoulade with a dressing that combines mayonnaise and mustard, and maybe capers or cornichons, depending on your taste.

You can boil it whole in the skin, which takes about 45 minutes, but I'm much too impatient for that, so I like to peel it and boil the pieces. Instead of trying to peel it with a paring knife, it's best to remove the tough peel like a pineapple, by slicing from the top down along the sides. Take your sharpest chef's knife, or even better, a long serrated bread knife (I use my Ginzu knife that I bought at the State Fair from that one guy whose sales patter is a tour-de-force of performance art).

Slice off the top and bottom ends so you can sit it flat and it won't slip. Then, slice from the top down along the side to remove the tough outer layer, revealing the pale fragrant flesh underneath. I love the smell!

The texture is not quite like that of a potato or a jicama, and not quite the same as a turnip's. The odor is between that of fresh celery stalks and celery seed. If you use a knife that is not stainless steel, it will discolor faster and maybe take on a metallic taste, so avoid that. If you're not going to cook it right away, or if you are using matchstick sized pieces raw in a salad, in the French style, put the pieces in a bowl of water with a splash of lemon juice or vinegar to keep them from discoloring.

I just chopped it into chunks and put it in a pot of boiling water immediately. It takes about 8-10 minutes to cook through, or, you can wait until the water comes back to a boil, put a lid on the pot and turn off the heat, and let it sit until cooked through while you do something else.

The cooked pieces can be eaten plain, speared out of the pot, but it's commonly dressed with mustardy vinaigrette, mashed with potatoes or carrots, or used just about any way you'd use a potato. Save the broth for vegetable stock or use in a soup for a subtle flavor.

This NPR story by Jack Staub (from the series Kitchen Window) is a loving ode to celeriac, and has a recipe for celeriac french fries! But these recipes look more my style (I'm deathly afraid of frying things in oil), especially the hearty soups. Celeriac also pairs well with green apples or pears. I think I'll use it with some of the fresh tarragon Loren gave me.